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4/06/2013 10:33 pm  #1


So what happened to the "Sam" thread?

Was it removed?


Vicimus Atlanticum decem
 

4/06/2013 10:39 pm  #2


Re: So what happened to the "Sam" thread?

It has disappeared down the "memory hole."  Are we censoring things here  on the board?  If so, I don't like it one bit.


Vicimus Atlanticum decem
     Thread Starter
 

4/07/2013 8:03 am  #3


Re: So what happened to the "Sam" thread?

I removed it on my own, Tejas. Mostly because posters had zero interest but some because It is a really, really hot issue. Either Sam is slandering or the university leadership gave away a diploma. My reasoning sides with Sam. The vid was posted mid-Feb, long before the judge's decision.

Sam: 1) He can lose his diploma if he's exposed the truth. 2) This doesn't seem to be a legal ploy since this would be a non-issue for damages.  3) he exposes himself to sued for slander and libel.  

Duquesne: 1) ensuring he had a diploma lessened their legal liability for future earnings since they could say "a few of those shot are playing pro ball and Sam has a diploma.". 2) it was in Duq's interest to ensure he rec'd the diploma in ~the usual amount of time --see #1.  3) the proper thing to do is to have Sam withdraw if he couldn't handle the classes -- assuming tutors, modified tests, etc were used. But again, this would increase the legal peril for Duq (future earnings).


If it wasn't an honorary degree AND if Sam isn't lying then conferring a diploma in the fashion Sam alleges is a major ethical and academic violation for a university that prides itself on values, integrity, etc.


Mind you, the kid with receptive and expressive communication impairments owns a Duq Communication degree. This must've been the most difficult major for his situation.

Last edited by Jeralta (4/07/2013 8:10 am)

 

4/07/2013 8:06 am  #4


 

4/07/2013 11:52 am  #5


Re: So what happened to the "Sam" thread?

Colin Dunlap talking about it on The Fan Right now.

 

4/07/2013 5:23 pm  #6


Re: So what happened to the "Sam" thread?

Jeralta, you have a few things incorrect.

"The vid was posted mid-Feb, long before the judge's decision."

Before the judge's decision in the Baldonado/James/Mensah, yes. But Sam's case was dismissed in 2010, exactly three years prior to his posting the referenced video. I would post proof, but the board won't let me because I haven't made two posts yet. Give me a second.

 

4/07/2013 5:26 pm  #7


Re: So what happened to the "Sam" thread?

Ok, let's try this now. Here is the article from 2010 referencing the dismissed lawsuit.

http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/breaking/former-basketball-players-suit-against-duquesne-u-dismissed-233415/

 

4/07/2013 6:58 pm  #8


Re: So what happened to the "Sam" thread?

What am I missing? I don't follow the point of these posts.

 

4/08/2013 4:08 pm  #9


Re: So what happened to the "Sam" thread?

Colin Dunlap‏@colin_dunlap9m#Duquesne Univ attorney Steven Zoffer just called me,said academic fraud claims by Sam Ashaolu "wholly inaccurate" and "simply untrue"

Colin Dunlap‏@colin_dunlap7mOf Ashaolu claims -- found here http://youtu.be/pcXuoJs_JqI --- Duquesne atty Zoffer said, "It's puzzling why he would make them."

Colin Dunlap‏@colin_dunlap4m#Duquesne atty Zoffer said in re: Ashaolu: "Duquesne's academic reputation speaks for itself, it would never compromise such standards."

Colin Dunlap‏@colin_dunlap17mIn sum, #Duquesne -- through atty Steven Zoffer -- categorically denies academic fraud allegations made by former player Sam Ashaolu

Last edited by CLK (4/08/2013 4:26 pm)

 

4/08/2013 6:06 pm  #10


Re: So what happened to the "Sam" thread?

This burns me up that Dunlap started questioning this.  Either Dunlap combs these boards looking for any little piece of garbage for his show.  Or some troll read Jeralta's original post and fed it to Dunlap.   

Seriously Jeralta's stumbles across that video and website that have been up since January, and Dunlap happens to talk about it and tweet about it.  Hard to believe that is a coincidence.  No doubt it was one of two trolls, that will remain nameless. (No Jeralta I do not mean you!).  

The website says that Duquesne didn't pay for his medical bills.  I find that to be totally unbelievable.  Seems like someone trying to extort money from the school if you ask me.  Dunlap seemingly has it out for Duquesne since his time spent with GA was not all that pleasant.   Pretty sad IMO 

 

4/08/2013 7:01 pm  #11


Re: So what happened to the "Sam" thread?

Dunlap clearly has a source who has an "in" with GA.

Sort of an arms merchant who is willing to sell to both sides.

Dunlap is doing his job, however feeble I judge that to be (read into it what you will). His source will eventually hang himself or Greg.

 

4/08/2013 8:44 pm  #12


Re: So what happened to the "Sam" thread?

ElDuque wrote:

Dunlap clearly has a source who has an "in" with GA.

Sort of an arms merchant who is willing to sell to both sides.

Dunlap is doing his job, however feeble I judge that to be (read into it what you will). His source will eventually hang himself or Greg.

Im now an Amodio fan! This allegation makes no sense yet many young kids get an ax to grind. I say prove it! I thought a reporter needed an additional source before slandering Charlie & the university.

 

4/08/2013 9:10 pm  #13


Re: So what happened to the "Sam" thread?

Dunlap is no longer a reporter.  He is a cheesy talk show host on 93.7 the Fan.  He prides himself on calling all Pittsburghers "yinzers" and talking down to his audience.  

I actually had a shred of respect from him when he was a reporter.  But I have caught his act on the radio, and it is tiresome.   He does have an ax to grind in regards to DU.  

 

4/09/2013 5:35 am  #14


 

4/09/2013 7:00 am  #15


Re: So what happened to the "Sam" thread?

It's real simple: Name names, Sam. Then let the fun begin. If you aren't going to do that, then go howl at the moon.

 

4/09/2013 7:03 am  #16


Re: So what happened to the "Sam" thread?

Is this the same Colin Dunlap who once quoted Sam as saying: "I was in very bad condition. So this is surprising to me. A lot of people didn't think I could do it, but I did it, the classes and everything. I worked hard at it."

http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/neighborhoods-city/wounded-duquesne-player-reaches-goal-372022/ 

Just curious.

Last edited by ElDuque (4/09/2013 7:05 am)

 

4/09/2013 7:07 am  #17


Re: So what happened to the "Sam" thread?

I'm having trouble with the link, so here's the full story:

Wounded Duquesne player reaches goal

By Colin Dunlap / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Of those 469 people upon whom degrees were conferred yesterday morning inside the A.J. Palumbo Center at Duquesne University's December commencement ceremony, Sam Ashaolu stood tallest.

And it had little to do with his broad-shouldered, 6-foot, 7-inch frame topped off with a blue mortarboard.

Mr. Ashaolu stood triumphant because, after an on-campus party on Sept. 17, 2006, just a few blocks up the hill from that stage where he was handed a communications degree yesterday, he was lying unconscious after being shot in the head.

Most people thought there was a good chance he wouldn't live to graduate, and he admits knowing now some of his teammates thought he wouldn't even make it the few blocks to UPMC Mercy the night he was shot.

Mr. Ashaolu, the most seriously wounded of the five Duquesne basketball players shot 39 months ago, made it to the hospital alive -- barely.

He kept going from there.

He made it through multiple surgeries, has tolerated the debilitating seizures and head-pounding migraines that occasionally strike him, lives with a piece of the bullet still in his head, learned how to walk again, how to comprehensively read again and how to speak again.

Yesterday, at 26, he learned what it was like to walk across that stage -- atop Duquesne's basketball floor that he never got to play a game on -- to accept a diploma.

At last, Sam Ashaolu got something he came to Duquesne for -- to hear his name bellowed over the Palumbo Center public address system and have the ensuing applause fill the basketball venue.

"I was in very bad condition," Mr. Ashaolu said. "So this is surprising to me. A lot of people didn't think I could do it, but I did it, the classes and everything.

"I worked hard at it."

No one knows that like Duquesne coach Ron Everhart, who has been there from the very beginning. Mr. Everhart was at the hospital in the middle of the night just after Mr. Ashaolu and his teammates were felled by the gunfire, and Mr. Everhart made a point to be there yesterday, adjusting the Dukes' practice schedule to make sure the entire men's basketball team sat and watched its former teammate walk across the stage and extend his hand for that diploma.

Since the shooting, Mr. Everhart often has spoken about how Mr. Ashaolu -- who is from Toronto and after the shooting served as the team's manager for a time -- has inspired a basketball resurgence at the school along Forbes Avenue.

"A lot of times society holds people in a certain degree of esteem for things and they really aren't at that level," Mr. Everhart said. "But this kid embodies -- whether you want to call it being a hero, or whether you want to call it, a guy who has achieved something great -- when all the odds were against him, he's the guy who succeeded.

". . . Aside from the day I got married and my children were born, this might be one of the proudest days I've ever had. He's a great kid and has been very inspirational to our team, to me and, I think, to our institution."

Of the five players shot, Mr. Ashaolu is just the second -- joining Aaron Jackson, who now plays professional basketball in Turkey -- to earn a degree from Duquesne.

Mr. Jackson, who was shot in the hand, remains close friends with Mr. Ashaolu. Stuard Baldonado, the other player most seriously wounded -- he was shot in the back -- left school without playing.

Two others wounded in the shooting, Shawn James, who was shot in the foot, and Kojo Mensah, hit in the shoulder, didn't graduate, instead opting to turn professional after their junior seasons.

Mr. James plays in Israel; Mr. Mensah in Uruguay.

Mr. Ashaolu and his family sued Duquesne in September 2008, claiming inadequate security was a factor in the shooting. The case is unresolved.

Still, even with all of that, Mr. Ashaolu pushed through. He said yesterday he never wanted to transfer -- and Duquesne also kept him on scholarship.

Mr. Ashaolu said he will head home to Canada for the holidays and then return to Pittsburgh to look for a job.

"They don't write this in any coaching manual, everything that's happened, that is for sure," Mr. Everhart said. "It has been an interesting metamorphosis and journey for Sam and he's had to endure some adversity and, in the process, he's been a tremendous inspiration to me, and a lot of people, every day."

The men responsible for the shooting, William Holmes III, of Penn Hills, and Derek Lee, of the North Side, both pleaded guilty to five counts each of attempted homicide and aggravated assault. Mr. Holmes was sentenced to 18 to 40 years in prison; Mr. Lee to seven to 14 years.

Although he never scored a point for the Dukes, never yanked down a rebound, set a screen or blocked a would-be layup by a driving opponent, Mr. Ashaolu nevertheless had a tremendous impact on Duquesne's basketball program.

"Sam graduating today, when you look back on where he was, Day 1," Mr. Everhart said, before he stopped in mid-sentence, searching for the right words.

"He's a walking miracle. Sam is absolutely a walking miracle."

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/neighborhoods-city/wounded-duquesne-player-reaches-goal-372022/#ixzz2Py1mbJ1f

 

4/09/2013 8:44 am  #18


Re: So what happened to the "Sam" thread?

I hope the Duq attorney Zoffer puts Ash on legal notice re: libel.  Duq needs to protect their brand and integrity. Sam was a super high profile case and if he continues down this road there will be a legal fight.

 

4/09/2013 3:36 pm  #19


Re: So what happened to the "Sam" thread?

There's a simple question to be asked by any reporter worth his or her salt:

What exactly has changed since Sam made those statements in 2009 and whenever that video was developed?

 

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